Category: Media releases
MTN Group is pleased to announce senior leadership appointments to operating companies in Nigeria, Iran and Sudan, all of them internal candidates, as we focus on executing on our strategy to drive growth, de-leverage faster and reveal value in our fintech and fibre businesses. The appointments are effective 1 April 2022.
“A vital enabler of our strategy is having the best talent, culture and future-fit skills,” says MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita. “Today’s announcement demonstrates the depth of talent within the Group, as well as the strength of our succession planning.”
Following the recent appointment of MTN Nigeria Chief Operating Officer Mazen Mroue as MTN Group Chief Information and Technology Officer, Hassan Jaber assumes the COO role at MTN Nigeria. He moves from MTN Irancell, where he serves as COO, bringing with him some 25 years of telecoms and digital experience within the MTN Group.
Jaber’s track record of building and scaling-up telecom operations and developing digital businesses through the power of mobile technology will be instrumental to MTN Nigeria as it plays its part in delivering on the Group’s strategic intent of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. He has served MTN in numerous markets, including Ghana, Guinea-Conakry, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Malik Melamu, with over 28 years of managerial and executive experience, will assume the position of MTN Irancell COO, joining from MTN Sudan where he has been CEO over the last five years. Among other roles at MTN, he previously served as MTN Benin CEO and as Executive for Sales and Distribution and Customer Experience at MTN Group.
Stepping into the CEO role at MTN Sudan is Ziad Sabah, whose career within MTN spans more than a decade, most recently as MTN Syria CEO and before that as the Chief Marketing Officer of MTN Syria. Ziad is a seasoned business leader and will play a pivotal role in strengthening MTN Sudan’s market position through initiatives to advance digital and financial inclusion.
“These appointments demonstrate the depth of leadership bench-strength within the MTN Group, and we remain focused on delivering sustainable growth to our stakeholders. Nigeria, Iran and Sudan are markets with attractive demographics and tremendous potential growth opportunities for digital and financial inclusion,” concludes Mupita.
MTN Group this week committed to support a bi-national conference for businesses operating in South Africa and Nigeria during the first visit to its South African headquarters of the chairman of MTN Nigeria, the Group’s biggest operating company.
The commitment was made to Nigerian High Commissioner to South Africa H.E. Muhammed Haruna Manta when he met with the MTN Nigeria delegation, led by MTN Nigeria Chairman Ernest Ndukwe and MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola, at MTN Group headquarters in Fairland. MTN Group Chairman Mcebisi Jonas and Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita hosted the visit.
Jonas said the trip from the Group’s Nigerian colleagues was productive: “It has been a fruitful two days in which, together with our Nigeria team, we were able to unpack our plans in Nigeria and how these align to the Group’s strategic intent of providing leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress.”
Ndukwe said MTN Nigeria was committed to that country’s socioeconomic development: “MTN Nigeria believes that we should not only provide a service to customers, but also deepen connectivity access as well as drive financial inclusion. To this end, for 2022 MTN Nigeria intends to ensure the connectivity of an additional 2 000 rural communities and has secured 100 MHz of 3500 spectrum to enable Nigeria’s move to 5G.”
Mupita underscored the importance of MTN’s operations in Nigeria and South Africa to the overall health of the Group: “Nigeria and South Africa are our largest operations, contributing two-thirds of the value of the Group. Supporting the strengthening of economic and business relationships between the two countries is in line with our strategic priority to create shared value.”
Toriola elaborated on his operation’s role in creating shared value: “MTN Nigeria is committed to supporting the economic development of the country through driving public-private partnerships and initiatives such as CACOVID, the AU vaccine initiative and the construction of the Enugu-Onitsha Expressway.”
MTN Group owns 75.6% of MTN Nigeria and continues to work towards further broadening the local shareholder base, subject to market conditions and regulatory approvals. Over the medium term, we aim to reduce our shareholding to approximately 65%.
MTN Group reported strong financial, operational and sustainability results in 2021 in a tough macro environment. These were delivered through strong strategic execution and sustained commercial momentum across 19 markets, in the year in which Africa’s leading mobile operator started implementing its refreshed Ambition 2025 strategy.
“We adapted to the extraordinary circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and started shaping the MTN of the future through the execution of Ambition 2025,” said MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita.
In constant-currency terms, service revenue grew by 18.3% to R171.8 billion; earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 23.7% to R80.8 billion; and the EBITDA margin expanded by 2.2 percentage points to 44.5%. The Board declared a final dividend of 300 cents per share.
“The performance was underpinned by pleasing growth in our larger operating companies, operating leverage and the benefits of our expense efficiency programme,” said Mupita, adding that headline earnings per share adjusted for non-operational items increased by 26.6%; return on equity expanded by 2.6 percentage points to 19.6%; and organic operating cashflow accelerated by 35.2% to R38.3 billion.
The results were delivered despite a slowdown in subscriber additions related to industry-wide regulations in Nigeria. At year-end, MTN Group had a total of 272.4 million subscribers, up 2.9 million from end-2020. Greater adoption of data and fintech services resulted in the addition of 11.1 million new data users and 10.4 million new Mobile Money users to reach totals of 122.0 million and 56.8 million respectively. To cater for the 53.3% expansion in data traffic and 41.1% increase in fintech volumes, we continued to invest in the capacity and resilience of our networks and platforms, deploying total capex of R32.7 billion in the year.
We increased our financial flexibility to capture the opportunities identified by Ambition 2025. We deleveraged the balance sheet, paying US$1.4 billion in dollar debt and improving the holding company leverage to 1.0x from 2.2x. This was boosted by cash of R18.4 billion repatriated from our operating companies and R4.1 billion in proceeds from our asset realisation programme (ARP) during the 2021 financial year. We anticipate further net proceeds of R8.8 billion from the public offer of MTN Nigeria shares and the sale of passive tower infrastructure, once completed.
Among other highlights of the ARP – which aims to reduce debt, simplify our portfolio, reduce risk and improve returns – were the New York Stock Exchange listing of IHS Towers, in which we have a 26% stake; the localisations of a number of our operating companies; and our exit from operations in Yemen and Syria.
We progressed work to build the largest and most valuable platforms, reporting strong growth in our fintech business. It now has 57 million monthly active users and generates 10 billion transactions with total transaction value of US$239 billion within the 2021 calendar.
With a step change in our approach to sustainability, we created more shared value. We connected 23 million more people to broadband and achieved rural broadband coverage of 83% against our target of 95% by 2025. We reduced the cost to communicate by a 15.3% average reduction in the costs of a GB of data across our markets. Our economic value added to nation states where we operate increased to R115 billion, with cash taxes paid up at R11 billion across our markets. We linked long-term incentives for executives to various ESG indicators, with a focus on reaching net zero emissions by 2040; progressing diversity and inclusion; and extending rural broadband.
With growth structurally sustaining at higher levels, we enhanced our medium-term guidance, raising our targets for Group service revenue growth and returns. The Board also adopted a revised dividend policy to provide guidance on an annual basis in March indicating the minimum ordinary dividend expected in the financial year ahead, aligned to the group capital allocation framework.
“We remain focused on providing leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress and creating shared value for our stakeholders. Our enhanced medium-term guidance reflects the growth we see across our markets, as we play our part in driving digital and financial inclusion across Africa,” concluded Mupita.
MTN Group and Rakuten Symphony have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to conduct live 4G and 5G OpenRAN Proof of Concept (PoC) trials in South Africa, Nigeria, and Liberia based on Rakuten Communications Platform (RCP). RCP assists telcos worldwide with the deployment of fully cloud-native network services.
The trials, which will start in 2022, combine RCP OpenRAN technology with advanced automation and autonomous network capabilities with one of Africa’s top brownfield operators.
“We are pleased to announce our partnership with Rakuten Symphony to deploy live 4G and 5G OpenRAN trials across South Africa, Nigeria, and Liberia. In line with our belief that everyone deserves the benefits of a modern connected life, we are committed to actively driving the rapid expansion of affordable 4G and 5G coverage across markets in Africa,” said Mazen Mroue, MTN Group Chief Technology & Information Systems Officer. “We have announced our support towards the deployment of OpenRAN technology in 2021 to modernise our radio access network footprint. Through this partnership we hope to target innovation and cost efficiencies that will enable us to continue delivering an exceptional customer experience.”
The solutions, currently deployed by Rakuten Mobile in Japan, include cloud orchestration, Zero-Touch Provisioning (ZTP) and automation of radio site commissioning and network integration.
“We’re excited to take this next step in our partnership with MTN,” said Rabih Dabboussi, Chief Revenue Officer of Rakuten Symphony. “This PoC will demonstrate how one of the world’s top-tier brownfield mobile operators can utilise Rakuten Symphony’s network automation and orchestration solutions for cost-effective network transformation and timely deployment of next-generation network services to their customers across Africa.”
Rakuten Mobile has set multiple industry landmarks with its full-scale launch of commercial services on the world’s first fully virtualized cloud-native mobile network*1 in 2020, and Rakuten Symphony, launched in 2021, is now bringing that technology to operators globally. Rakuten Symphony brings together Rakuten’s telco products, services, and solutions under a single global banner to offer 4G and 5G infrastructure and platform solutions to customers worldwide.
In line with MTN Group’s Ambition 2025 strategy of leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress, this MoU will enable the launch of new services more quickly, cost-effectively, and seamlessly.
MTN and Rakuten Symphony will be collaborating with Accenture and Tech Mahindra to conduct the trials in South Africa, Nigeria and Liberia.
Communications Media and Technology Lead for Africa Nitesh Singh said “As one of the leading professional services firms in technology and networks in particular it is an exciting time in the industry for all parties on the OpenRan journey. In line with MTN Group’s Ambition 2025 of leading digital solutions for Africa, we are excited to be part of the partnership with both Rakuten and MTN to ultimately pass these benefits on to MTN’s consumers in the market”.
President of Communication, Media and Entertainment (CME) and Chief Executive of Network Services in Tech Mahindra, Manish Vyas said, “Communication Service Providers today are increasingly focused on 5G network modernisation. As a leading provider of networks of the future, it is our mission to be a trusted transformation partner for operators globally. We bring in deep expertise in integrating OpenRAN sub-systems and enabling end-to-end transformation through planning, designing, testing, deployment, and operationalisation. This collaboration will enable MTN’s OpenRAN transformation program and will deliver benefits of disruptive Open RAN architecture to consumers and enterprises in Africa.”
Note:
*1 For a large scale commercial mobile network (as of October 1, 2019). Research: Stella Associa
* The company names, product and service names in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
Africarare is the first Virtual Reality metaverse in Africa
MTN today became the first African company to enter the metaverse by purchasing land in Africarare.
Africarare which made its debut in South Africa in October 2021, is the first African Virtual Reality metaverse featuring digital land. This purchase will see MTN owning 144 plots of virtual land with an overall area of 12x12m.
Bernice Samuels, MTN’s Group Executive for Marketing said, “This is an exciting moment for us as we lead businesses on the continent to enter the metaverse marketplace. This is exactly what our Ambition 2025 strategy is premised on – leveraging trends that amplify consumer’s digital experiences and engagement. We have always been at the forefront of technological and digital changes and we remain alive to the exciting opportunities the metaverse presents for us and our customers’’.
This investment demonstrates MTN’s commitment to supporting African innovation as it is the first company on the continent to support an initiative of this kind. Through its presence in the metaverse, MTN intends to increase its customer attractiveness through a series of experiences merged with consumer passion points, like gaming and music.
MTN Group today unveiled its evolved visual identity, articulating the context behind the logo many have seen since 16 February 2022. It is just the second brand overhaul since the Group was founded in 1994. Back in 2004, the changes made to the brand resulted in MTN taking ownership of the colour yellow that is now synonymous with MTN. Importantly it also helped to elevate the brand to where it is today, recognised as the most valuable in Africa.
The brand is an extension and visual representation of the Group’s refreshed strategy, dubbed Ambition 2025 and premised on Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress. Through the delivery of this strategy, MTN aims to accelerate growth by building the largest and most valuable platform businesses and driving its industry leading connectivity operations.
“Africa is a continent with enormous opportunity and energy,” says MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “We want to play our part in harnessing her potential and supporting her progress by driving digital and financial inclusion. It is a well-known fact that the youth are central to achieving this potential. Whilst we remain focussed on all our customers and stakeholders, our brand evolution demonstrates an enhanced focus on the youth.”
The new brand identity is modern, simple, bold, and digitally dynamic. It kicks off with a provocative and simple question, “What are we doing today?” With a clear and concise brand strategy that Opportunity + Energy = Progress, MTN understands that to truly unlock the full benefits and potential of the digital world people require a combination of drive, progressive thinking, and the right tools.
This rebrand highlights MTN’s commitment to continuously evolve and explore innovative initiatives that provide value to all our stakeholders. A pioneer of progress from the beginning, MTN looks to drive this progress further through action and doing. In delivering its vision, MTN aims to drive a positive shift in Africa and harness the continent’s boundless opportunity.
“Africa is never still. True progress can only be realised by ‘doing’,” says Bernice Samuels, MTN Group Executive for Marketing. “It is off this insight that we launch our new positioning by challenging, celebrating and providing tools for doers because when individuals, communities and countries progress, so too does Africa.”
MTN Group’s Ambition 2025, has ushered in a new look that is aligned with our strategic intent to provide digital solutions to support Africa’s progress underpinned by one simple, consistent, yet striking brand.
Our commitment and focus to accelerate Africa’s progress sees MTN revealing a refreshed brand identity and campaign from 27 February. The campaign is inspired by an insight that doing is a bridge between can and done, because all progress comes from action.
MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita has paid a day’s working visit to Ghana to engage with some key stakeholders and reiterate MTN’s commitment to support the further development of the Ghanaian telecommunications sector and work towards greater financial inclusion.
On Wednesday, the Group CEO and his team of executives paid courtesy calls on the Bank of Ghana, the Ghana Revenue Authority, and the Ministry of Finance to interact and discuss issues of mutual interest, including localisation.
During the visit to the Bank of Ghana, Mr. Mupita expressed his appreciation for the Bank’s support over the years. Bank of Ghana Governor Dr. Ernest Addison congratulated MTN for the work done in the mobile financial services sector and indicated that the Bank was counting on MTN to continue to champion innovation and financial inclusion. Dr Addison was joined by the Second Deputy Governor Mrs Elsie Addo Awadzi.
The MTN delegation then called on the Commissioner General of the Ghana Revenue Authority Mr. Ammishaddai Owusu-Amoah and his deputies where Mr. Mupita commended Ghana for encouraging economic growth last year.
In his engagements with the Ministry for Finance, Mr. Mupita reiterated MTN Group’s continued support to the Government of Ghana in achieving its digital agenda.
This is the third visit of the Group CEO to Ghana since he assumed office in September 2020. He is accompanied by the MTN Group Senior Vice President of Markets Ebenezer Asante, MTN Ghana CEO Selorm Adadevoh, CEO of Mobile Money Ltd Eli Hini, MTN Ghana Chief Corporate Services Officer Sam Koranteng and MTN Ghana Chief Financial Officer Antoinette Kwofie.
The visit to Ghana is part of Mr. Mupita’s regular engagements with local authorities in priority markets. He calls on key stakeholders early every year to revisit the Group’s commitments, understand their expectations and foster cordial working relationships. His next stop is Nigeria.
MTN Group’s commitment to improve our environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance has led to a significant upgrade in the Group’s ESG rating by FTSE Russell, and the inclusion of MTN in the FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Top 30 Index.
Noting an improvement across each of the ESG pillars, FTSE upgraded MTN’s overall rating to 4.3 at end-December 2021 from 2.9 previously. The ratings are scored out of 5.0. In the telecoms sector, MTN moved from the 34th percentile in December 2019 – the last time such a ranking was performed – to the 97th percentile in December 2021.
MTN Group received the maximum 5.0 points as a social score (compared to 3.2 previously), 4.5 points (from 4.0) as a governance score and 3.6 (from 1.9) as an environment score.
“We are encouraged by this re-rating, and as part of our Ambition 2025 strategy, we will continue with the work to create shared value, with ESG at the core,” said MTN Group President and Chief Executive Officer Ralph Mupita. “It reflects the step change we have taken in our approach to sustainability and improving the risk profile of the group.”
Compared to the mobile telecoms sub-sector, MTN scored the highest across all social categories – human rights & community; labour standards; social supply chain – as well as across both governance categories – corporate governance and anti-corruption. With regards environmental themes, the Group scored substantially higher than the sub-sector average for climate change and environmental supply chain.
“As a provider of essential communications services, we take very seriously the social and governance aspects of our work,” said Nompilo Morafo, who assumes the role of MTN Group Chief Sustainability and Corporate Affairs Officer on 1 February 2022. “MTN’s approach to human rights & community, labour standards and social supply chain all showed improvements, and these remain critically important. Similarly, our work around anti-corruption and sound corporate governance was recognised, and we look forward to more progress in 2022.”
MTN Group is now in FTSE/JSE Responsible Investment Top 30 Index, which identifies South African companies with leading ESG practices.
MTN in partnership with ayoba, Africa’s super app, has reached an exciting milestone of over 10 million monthly active users. 2021 has been a fast-paced year so far for ayoba, who celebrated its second year in operation in May 2021.
The ayoba platform aims to harness growth in the African digital economy by breaking down barriers such as limited access to the internet and digital services, low smartphone penetration, lack of locally relevant content, and affordability.
“We celebrate this milestone and are pleased that through ayoba we can provide access to affordable communications, so that millions of people across our markets can enjoy the benefits of a modern connected life”, says MTN Group Digital and Fintech Officer, Serigne Dioum.
“MTN’s Ambition 2025 strategy is to drive digital and financial inclusion across Africa, via ayoba we intend to reach 100 million monthly active users by 2025, ensuring more people reap the social, economic, and developmental dividends of being online,” concludes Serigne.
In its two years of existence, ayoba has grown significantly and continues to be recognised by various bodies. In 2021, ayoba received the Best OTT Brand of the Year accolade at the Marketing World Awards and recently was awarded the Best Mobile App from Bonteh Digital Awards. Ayoba has also hosted two hackathons this year, with the aim of guiding young developers on micro-app development.
Commenting on the achievement, ayoba Chief Executive Officer, Burak Akinci said: “Our progress in 2021 has been considerable, growing in excess of 4 million users. This is a clear sign that the African market really enjoys ayoba, and we are here to stay. This growth is also due to the hard work of our team, and of course, the loyalty and enthusiasm of our users, who are always our first priority. We look forward to even bigger growth in 2022, as we see progress from the new features, content and general improvement that will be launched throughout the year.”
ayoba offers users access to digital and rich media services through channels, micro-apps, and payment solutions, embedded within a single African Super App. With over 180 content channels ranging from Sports, News, Music & Artists, Health & Wellness, Careers, Fashion & Beauty, Education and Travel – a huge increase from the 128 at the start of the year.
In addition, users now have access to a range of 35 micro-apps, including MTN Online School (SA) and MTN MoMo (Ghana), adding even more content to a deep and hyperlocalised offering.
We have also identified the gaps in our markets heightened by the pandemic, particularly in terms of the literacy of subscribers and through our education micro-app available in ayoba we have launched numerous channels with key strategic partners focused on specific areas of education ranging from entrepreneurial education to country-specific curriculum content for students, which include educational explainer videos on topics ranging from math, science, and the art of storytelling.
Ayoba users can send and receive encrypted messages in 22 diverse languages, share photos, videos, files, voice notes and even their location, and can also subscribe to live channels. Localised content is available through these channels that aim to entertain, educate, and empower communities.
Ayoba is available to MTN and non-MTN customers. MTN customers are automatically allocated free data to use the ayoba features[1] including messaging, browsing, gaming, and listening to music. Customers can download the free app data at www.ayoba.me. In addition, ayoba lite is now also available for web access at web.ayoba.me which is proving to be popular with users who are short on space on their devices. Voice and video calls are excluded from the free data provisions.
[1] With the exception of Benin